Hi Andrew,

Please excuse me but I will be nasty :)

The pitch pages are one of the most important ones because this is where we start talking money. The CF problem is that those pages are also the most confusing and offer the worst user experience. Let me give you few examples:

PUBLIC REVIEW PITCH

1. Look is misleading because it's presented in the way all other websites show time based payment plans. It should look visually in the way that suggest one off payment for the service.

2. It's difficult to compare as all the extras are mixed and shown in random order. Mixing is usually used for hiding a single thing in a crowd :)

3. Icons do not support messages. Only Twitter and eye are OK.

4. Prices will confuse because even experienced users probably will not be sure about Credit to Dollar conversion rate :) I know it's 1 to1 but there is no info here that one can use credits as dollars.

5. How much credits do I have and how much do I need to buy would help a lot in decision making. If I have 20 credits and want to post a Mainstream concept I should be informed I need to pay only $5 dollars.

I put together a quick wireframe just to show you one of possible ways to make this look more like one off purchase. Please be aware it's an initial concept which would still require a lot of thinking.

EXPERT REVIEW PITCH

As much as I like the idea of CF offering Expert reviews I'm upset by the way it's pitched. I know this was first peg in the ground but still it suggests the concept was not given enough thoughts.

1. CF is selling experts' reviews NOT the experts but page is saying something completely different. You ask prospect clients to decide how many experts does they want.

2. It's impossible to decide how many because not future clients and not even you or me can tell the difference in value between more than 2 experts. One expert is obvious, two are OK (so called second opinion) but 3+ is fuzzy. Those are experts not workers at a sweatshop ball-pen assembly line :)

3. Prospect clients should decide only what area of expertise they are interested about (design, marketing, usability) and maybe if they want a second opinion in those areas. Yes, you are right - it would be $600 max - don't be too greedy :)

4. AJAX display of experts' avatars shown after an area is picked should reassure prospect clients that there are people (experts) who will help him/her. Maybe it should say: 'Your design will be reviewed by one of these experts'.

5. Order summary is not the best wording. Clients are not buying experts per kilograms and put them into baskets :) It probably should be something in line: 'Expert reviews will cost you:'

6. Icons AGAIN do not support the messages. Only 1 is OK. Guess which one :) (not 'Statistics', not 'Design' and definitely not 'Save money')

7. CF needs to explain the miracle of offering best experts for such little money as people might think: 'Those are not real top experts. It's impossible. You pay peanuts you get monkeys'

Call me lazy but I don't have a mockup for the expert page. This one needs more thinking and it's past midnight here in Scotland. So Andrew if you need any clarifications regarding my notes or want to discuss expert page just give me a call :)

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Michael

(user experience designer & strategist)

Hey Andrew, I've actually heavily considered using the Expert Feedback, but the price has been a little steep for me. This is a great time for me to let you know what would break that barrier for me (which is pretty much what you are looking for :-) ).

1. The biggest thing for me is not seeing any samples. It's great to get an idea of what I'll be getting as well as who will be giving it. But I really want(ed) to see a sample or maybe a before and after of success stories. Honestly, that is more important to me than who the experts are. Maybe you could replace the "Who Are The Experts?" section with some sample/success stories section and then just move the "Who Are The Experts?" underneath.
2. I'd change the wording on your call-to-action from something you want to something the user wants. Aka, you want their payment, but they want the reviews. So make it something like 'Get your Expert Reviews' or something with that meaning.
3. I'd consider moving the total of experts from under the "Order Summary"to under the 3 sections. So that the user can look in a straight line down and see each section's number of experts and then the total.
4. If you think about it this way, people are going to judge the value of your reviews by the value of information on this page (still referring to the expert reviews page). So if they don't find the information they are looking for, or enough of it, it's very likely they'll carry the same thoughts to your product (in this case the expert reviews). So I'd really beef up the information here. Maybe make each item under the "What Do You Get?" section 2 or 3 sentences with a "more info" link instead of just one sentence. And the same for the 3 expert fields. Again, it's likely that your audience will be detailed oriented and therefore could be looking for details and specifics.
5. Mainstream and Professional concepts have a chance to make revisions. Is there any revision system for Expert Feedback?

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful. Just some thoughts I had :-) Thanks again for CF!

Hi Andrew,

These are my opinions on the pages:

1st Page

• You don't explain the exchange rate between $ and credits. You say that you can earn 1 credit per review and you have a credit pool to distribute, but it doesn't say that credits can be used to get the higher levels. This maybe on purpose though to get paying customers. One idea would be to explain that 1 Credit = $1 and you can either pay for them or earn them. I think you need a universal CF currency, either $ or credits.
• Actually say the word professionals instead of Pros.
• Have a rollover box explaining a little detail about the Bugatti Veyron instead of whisking the user away to a different website. Or, choose something completely different. Personally I like the Bugatti reference, but we aren't all car lovers!
• Explain 'Visual Feedback'. Maybe have a rollover box with a thumbnail to give the user a better idea.
• State roughly how long it takes to start getting feedback on your concept once it's been posted.
• The 'Can't decide?' box. Don't have the '&' in the middle as I think most users would read both titles first and assume they're grouped together. Or try to merge both boxes into one.
• Replace 'website' with 'concept' as there are also graphic design/logo concepts etc. What's the extra little incentive? Extra credits? If so, try to explain that.
• Our members don't lie box. It comes across as they might lie when giving reviews when you say 'Not about CF, at least'. After reading that, you assume that they might lie.

2nd Page

• It doesn't say that you can miss out on a marketing review and just have design or usability. It assumes that the minimum is one from each category.
• Is there a way that you could show a sample report? Personally I would like to know how much detail is given before deciding whether or not to part with my hard earned cash.
• Is there a way of being able to pick which expert you want feedback from?

That's all for now, I'll have another bash tomorrow when I'm not so tired, it's been a long day!

Cheers,

Steve

A few comments

Product page

1. I would emphasize the package you want people to buy - probably the main stream package.
2. I might be a professional but only work solo or for a small boutique and so being told i'm a pro only if I spend 50 might irritate some, how about focussing on the level off the product like "Just getting started?", "Suitable for most users" and "Doing lots of top secret stuff"
3. Font choice is good and clear
4. icons in package details are okay but are a little bit 'clip-arty'
5. the language of "public website reviews blah blah" should probably be more of a call to action - and you will want to do some testing of the best language - if memory serves 37signals did a piece on A/B testing of headers for basecamp - how about something like "Get better feedback on your website " or "Improve your site with great feedback"
6. "Thousands of pros" - it might be the gutter like mind i have but i thought immediately "thousands of prostitutes" - this could just be me though.
7. i like the idea of the statisitics bit but you need to explain what you mean explicitly when you use them. "maybe the average free site gets 3 reviews whilst the average premium site gets 10 reviews"

Expert feedback pages

1. The expert reviews page confused me alot - it seems to jump about a bit and theres not enough explanation - for instance if i'm new to the site how many experts should,

   are 1,1,1 sensible defaults in your experience? if not change them to what are sensible defaults - tell the users "These defaults work for most feedbaack, but you can change them to something suitable for your own project."

2. "satisfaction gaurantee" Who judges if i'm satisfied or not?

3. "certified experts" - certified by whom? - surely you just mean "Hand picked experts"

4. "Educated advice" the description below doesn't fit with the idea of "Eductated" entirely

5. "Actionable feedback" surely feedback is superfluous in this sense - "Actionable" is more punchy

6. If I was thinking of this I would be "actionable, informed advice from hand picked experts - your satisfaction guaranteed" and I would order these sections in the same way as the phrase, i've never done any ab testing on it but its always struck me as sticking to a phrasal ordering makes it flow better.

For Public Feedback page

1. Videos are really powerful in explaining things. Some of the users might want to see things in action. Show them a clear picture with a quality narration. A bit of animated characters(this is a personal choice;)).
2. Remove the bugatti veyron link. I happened to think that there is going to something special behind the link. Not a good idea to take your user to another website.
3. There are too many tick marks used as icon for various points. I understand it 'll be a bit tricky to create lots of icons. we can try for a few. A little suggestion here. 5 reviews guranteed can have a big 5 and a small reviews icon
4. (MARKETING ASPECT) Free for a starving artist makes sense - but can be a little more inviting. Sure it pushes user to look at the other options. I have read that converting user from free account -> paid account can be done intelligently.
5. (MARKETING ASPECT) I'm not sure if i'm making a right point here. Is it possible to say, a small portfolio site owner can use this account. If you want feedback for you networking site, we suggest this account for you....
6. Our members don’t lie. Not about CF, at least. - add a video for this too. An expert interview. 2 mins of real people talking will do the trick of pages of writing. When the video is more than just a person sitting on a chair, show the designer's studio, his equipment, his artboard.

For Expert Feedback page

1. Show the experts at the top of the page.
2. Show one expert, a brief bio, 2 lines of quote and a small 2 minute video., how they had created change. the maximum amount of digestible information in a single page is better than pages with max information linked together.
3. A minor thing. Instead of You will receive feedback from a total of 3 expert(s). It can be Design Expert 1 + Usability Expert 2 + Marketing Expert 3 = Total 6 Experts With Icons of the 3 experts

Ok Andrew, here's the deal. The page is not bad. In fact, most of it is very sharp and very well designed.

But here's the kicker - it almost seems like the most important part was forgotten! Your h1's, tagline and h2's are all the weakest part of the page, when they should be the strongest.

The font is practically unstyled. There is nothing to really draw the eye there, just extra white space. The call to action buttons are WAY more styled than the actual item titles, which is bad.

So my biggest suggestion is style those top title areas. Make them stand out. And use different colors. That's honestly the best tip I can give for the design of this page. The very best pricing pages I've ever seen make use of multiple colors for multiple price plans. I don't even think you have to go the whole color theory route and say well this color should be the strongest action - just pick some pretty colors, and make sure they're all pretty strong.

Or, maybe what would be a suitable alternative to using multiple colors (since you don't seem to use mulitple colors on the site elsewhere) is that you could get away with doing the backgrounds in varying shades of your main color (see attachment).

So I'll leave you with this incredible resource which you may have seen before - a wonderful post on abduzeedo about some of the nicest looking pricing plan pages on the web. Not all use multi-color, but they ALL make good use of graphical elements for the plan/item title that is very strong and attractive.

This is by far one of the most confusing pages in this whole site. I post a fair bit well I think I do, and everytime I get to this point I get confused and then post the free version.

I am still unsure what / who / how the credits work... I have 400 something credits and have no freaking clue what to d o with them, not to mention, there has been no communication as what to do with them.

I'll add notes

Overall, this would have to be one of the only places that I ask for feedback from, and yet with all the changes (which are good) I am confused as to what to do and how...

Hope this helps.

Hi Andrew,

I've been trying to work out what I think of these pages for days and hadn't posted a review as I didn't feel I had anything extra to add particularly which hadn't already been mentioned.

However, I got a friendly boot up the backside from one of our esteemed useability experts saying my feedback would be appreciated so I shall try to formulate some kind of valid opinion...

PUBLIC REVIEW PAGE

• Whilst I like Michael's mock up with a slider I feel being able to see in one glance how much more you get for a professional concept compared to a basic is helpful and it's just easier to cross reference when all the information is in front of you.

• I totally agree with Joel that the headings could do with a more 'designed' feel and love his cloud mock ups with the different colours.

• Again some click through link or some area of the page to explain that $1 = 1 credit and that you can use credits as currency on the site.

• The eye icon has always disturbed me slightly. I think it's the weird semi-circle coming in from the top lid and the lack of eye lashes - it looks like the eye of some cyborg rather than something friendly and encouraging me to feel my concept is being seen by lots of people.

• Looking more closely how the 65% more reviews and the 90% more visibility are functions I think that 'on mainstream & professional' needs to be larger as it's lost a bit and also it's not immediately clear that both 65% more reviews AND 90% more visibility both come with using Mainstream & Professional concepts. It is if you really look at it and read it but users don't always do this. It would be good to get the information across without the user really having to work at all.

EXPERT REVIEW PAGE

• This page definitely could help the user a little more. It's quite confusing. I would feel that the cheapest it could be is $300 which is a bit 'ouchy' as it seems you have to choose an expert from all the areas and not just one area if that's all you require.

• The What Do You Get? section: Certified experts is a little misleading. It sounds good but it doesn't say what this certification is. I have a degree which is a kind of certificate but I wouldn't call myself certified in normal circumstances. The other subheadings all seem to add value and justify parting with money for the feedback.

• The Who Are The Experts? section: I think it definitely helps to put humans to the experts. In terms of selling us poor experts, I think my blurb definitely needs 'pimping' more. 'Emma is an Art Director with 14 years of top level industry experience working for clients such as Lexus Cars and The National Magazine Company. She also holds a BA(Hons) in Graphic Design from University of the Arts London.' sells a bit better.

I would like to express one main thought that came to my mind when I saw the features listed underneath each of the different price brackets:

How did you go about getting those features and numbers? For example, 5 reviews guaranteed for mainstream, 10 reviews guaranteed for professional etc. Were these feature lists (and this concept all together) a result of some data or was it just pulled out of the air.

The mobile industry (as well as many others. including many software agencies) makes good use of factorial analysis to figure out what features should be included in particular plans. The method in a nutshell is you basically round up some various groups of individuals such as previous users of the premium service, previous users of the free service etc and pose them with a simple list. The list may have 10 different items which the user has to rank from what is most important to them to what is least important to them. You can then do some analysis to figure out how important each feature is to each of the groups.

This type of analysis is is really needed (and not hard to do). For example, lets say that 80% of clients who previously used the premium service cared most about being promoted on twitter. In this these people can save themselves a lot of money by just using Basic (and thus your site's revenue would drop).

Looking at the features intuition tells me that you have them balanced quite well however it would be good to get some analysis from users to optimize the list (if it hasn't already been done).

I believe that almost everything is in the right place except info on credits user have.

Take into comparison a situation in which you have enough credits to post 'free' version (it's not free, isn't it? Same as $10 doesn't cost at all if you contribute...). You get an info 'You need 5 more credits...' and then "you can..." - take a look at a status when you got enough credits - it shows the actual features of an option, not 'how to get it credited'. This is a bit chaotic, maybe taking this info outside an option will be more clear to the user.

I love section "can't decide" and below.

Experts' page is also clear and well designed for me.

Anyway, great job, love your work guys! :)